Smart Trim

Smart Trim finds and brings together the best scenes based on the style of your video. Smart Trim uses content intelligence and a style-based workflow to automatically trim the video you want to edit.

In video editing, trimming a video is the primary task, which is sometimes difficult and time-consuming. Smart Trim auto-extracts best scenes based on attributes such as people (single or multiple), action, and the quality of the scenes.

If you would like to modify the auto-extracted results, you can change the slider position to add more or less scenes. You can further modify the results by manually adding, deleting, or changing the duration of individual scenes. When you are happy with the modification, preview and export the trimmed clip to the sceneline.

Premiere Elements 2019 Quick view

If you are in the Quick Goal screen, you can directly launch the Smart Trim screen. For more information, see Quick Goal screen.

If you are in Quick view sceneline, import media through the Add Media panel. For information about Quick view sceneline, see Premiere Elements 2019 in Overview.

Select the video clip in the quick view sceneline.

Use one of the following options to launch the Smart Trim screen:

On the video clip, click the Edit video clip icon > Smart Trim.

Edit video clip icon

Choose Tools > Smart Trim.

From the toolbar on the right side of the screen, click the Tools icon > Smart Trim.

The Smart Trim screen opens with the selected video clip.

By default, 20% of the clip from the starting point is automatically selected. To modify the selected segments, drag the handles to the left or right.

Use an available preset to automatically mark the best scenes. To see the available presets, click the Show Presets button.

Show Presets button

Three presets are displayed.

Smart trim presets

Select a preset based on the style of your video.

People This preset focuses on faces in the video clip along with other quality filters to find scenes with people. This preset is recommended for family-event videos (for example, wedding, birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas gatherings).

Action This preset focuses on activities in the video clip along with other quality filters to find scenes where there is medium-to-high activity or action happening. This preset is recommended for sports and dance videos (for example, action sports, school sports, school ballet dance, kids dancing, and kids playing).

Mix This preset focuses on the combination of faces, activities, and camera motion along with other quality filters to find scenes. This preset is recommended for travel and nature videos (for example, beaches, mountains, cruises, and vacations with the family.)

Once you select a preset, smart trim automatically analyzes the clip and marks relevant segments. Clips that are analyzed once are not analyzed again.

Check the extracted scenes highlighted in the sceneline. You can see the duration of the extracted video at the bottom of the sceneline.

If you are not satisfied with the automatic extraction, do one of the following:

Use the slider to manage the number of extracted scenes. Drag the slider to the left to extract fewer scenes or to the right to extract more scenes.

Select to apply transitions while moving from one extracted scene to another.

Preview

Click to preview the generated output.

Export

Click to export all the extracted scenes as a single clip to the sceneline. For information about the Export & Share dialog box, see Export and share your videos.

Continue Editing

Click to continue creating your movie using the trimmed clip in Quick view.

Premiere Elements 2019 Expert view and 2018 release

Click Add media to import the video clip that you want to work with in the Quick or Expert view.

Choose Smart Trim from the Tools menu.

Smart Trim

Smart Trim automatically analyzes the clip, selects the preset based on the style of your video, and marks the best scenes.

Select a different preset if you don't like the results.

People This preset focuses on faces in the video clip along with other quality filters to find scenes with people. This preset is recommended for family-event videos (for example, wedding, birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas gatherings).

Action This preset focuses on activities in the video clip along with other quality filters to find scenes where there is medium-to-high activity or action happening. This preset is recommended for sports and dance videos (for example, action sports, school sports, school ballet dance, kids dancing, and kids playing).

Mix This preset focuses on the combination of faces, activities, and camera motion along with other quality filters to find scenes. This preset is recommended for travel and nature videos (for example, beaches, mountains, cruises, and vacations with the family.)

Check the extracted scenes highlighted in the timeline. You can see the duration of the extracted video at the bottom of the timeline.

If you are not satisfied with the automatic extraction, do one of the following:

Use the slider to manage the number of extracted scenes. Drag the slider to the left to extract fewer scenes or to the right to extract more scenes.